In the sense of the term "meme", we have become accustomed to this term that means a photo with superimposed text, videos, or other forms of digital media. Interestingly, the term "meme" was coined by Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist. He defines memes as a unit of culture that spreads virally. A meme can be the humorous internet memes of today or an entire ideology. They are very powerful when it comes to transmitting information, for good or bad. 1 To Dawkins,memes can be ideas, texts, and/or practices. 2

 

Dawkins argues that memes can spread to the point of being destructive. Religion, to Dawkins, is an example of this. He thinks of religion as a "mind parasite". He argues that religion is not based on reason. Dawkins also notes that having religious beliefs makes you more likely to be intolerant of others who do not share your views. 

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Views can now be more easily spread with the use of the internet. This is especially dangerous as often time digital media goes unchecked for bias. 3

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Later, Dawkins calls religious people "memeoids". In this, he even considers holding religious beliefs as a form of mental illness. 

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One writer by the name of Bruce Nielson, says that as a Theist he finds Dawkins argument to be too one-sided, but that his conclusions are not entirely incorrect. He does say that putting the lens of memes onto religion brings a lot of interesting insight into the spread of religion. 4